Hello, this is Jane Allen with an update for Thursday, Dec. 30.

We are closing out what has been a very challenging year, with the difficult decision to declare Critical Coverage at eight of our domiciles for Dec. 29 and 30. As you know, we do so under the parameters provided by the Agreement between the company and the AFA, and only when we have exhausted all other resources to cover flying.

We took a number of steps during the past three months to prepare ourselves for the busy holiday months of November and December. We returned a total of 829 flight attendants from voluntary furlough since October 18, of which 458 were early returns. We strategically planned reserve coverage throughout December, limited deadhead conversions to conserve available hours and allowed you to make up ANP. And, as many of you know, we reassigned many flight attendants and were forced to short staff many trips over the past week due to shortages in coverage.

Despite our best efforts, the number of reserves available in the system for the last few days of December was simply not enough to cover our flying, making critical coverage necessary. Unpredictable and inclement weather across the system only compounded the situation.

We regret that this unfortunate set of circumstances drew some of you - and many domicile supervisors who volunteered to fly trips - away from your families and friends over the Christmas holidays and the past few days unexpectedly - thank you. I particularly want to thank those flight attendants who voluntarily picked up trips during this critical coverage period and those of you who have accepted critical coverage assignments. I also would like to thank our crew scheduling team members who have worked so hard during this holiday period. I sincerely appreciate everyone's efforts to serve our customers and support our company during this busy travel season.

Even though we made the decision to implement critical coverage to protect our operation and to continue to provide uninterrupted service to our customers - we know the impact it has on you and those who supported Critical Coverage at the domiciles and at WHQ.

Please know that those of us who support you at headquarters and in the domiciles never take for granted the contributions you make -- not only at critical times like this -- but every day. I wish you and those you love a safe, happy and healthy New Year.

Thanks for everything, and I'll talk with you again next week.